Wednesday, January 24, 2018

428 prisoners died in Florida prisons in 2017, only two were executed

More inmates died in Florida prisons last year than in any
other year on record, leaving the state scrambling to identify causes and find
solutions, reported the Miami Herald.

The tally, 428 inmate deaths in 2017, was released by the Florida Department of Corrections and showed a 20 percent
increase over previous years.

The inmates who died were, on average, younger than in
previous years, and only two died as a result of a state imposed execution.

"A 20 percent spike in prison deaths is of course
alarming, as is the fact that it’s younger inmates that are dying, rather than
people who have been in there for decades," said Howard Simon, executive
director of the Florida American Civil Liberties Union. "But I don’t want
to jump to any conclusions. Many of these are under investigations. And there’s
multiple causes."

Those who died in 2017 averaged 56.3 years of age. Since
2012, the average age of death in the prison system has swung between 57.1 and
58.2 years old.

The Florida prison system has long been considered one of
the most dangerous by almost any metric, including inmate-on-inmate violence,
use-of-force by staff and problems with delivery of health care. But there is
no easy answer as to why the number of deaths spiked so drastically from one
year to the next. The Department of Corrections has begun an internal
investigation. The causes of death are nearly all pending further
investigation.

About Matt

An analysis of crime and punishment from the perspective of a former prosecutor and current criminal justice practitioner.
The views expressed on this blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or postions of any county, state or federal agency.